<p>I am currently a Junior in high school, and intend to major in Computer Science in college. I feel that taking the AP CompSci test (And, of course, getting a good score) will improve my apps when I submit them next year.</p>
<p>Only problem is, I am strictly self taught. I have been programming since about 6th grade, but I have never had a formal course. I don't have the patience, nor the schedule space, to sit through 2 semesters of stuff I already know just to get to the AP class. I have tried convincing the teacher at my school that I am qualified enough to skip the basic classes, but she is adamant that I won't be able to.</p>
<p>Anyways, I recently purchased an exam prep thing from a website called Shmoop. It grants me access to 2 practice exams (40 Question multiple choice + 4 essays, I don't know if this is how the real test is set up or not). I took the multiple choice part of the first one, and the site told me based on that score, I would most likely get a 4 on the actual test (This was with absolutely no preparation.. I feel with a few months of prepping, I could easily score a 5). This also does not include the essays (I'm sort of working through them when I have time, rather than doing it in one sitting), but the ones I have done have met all of the criteria the question demands.</p>
<p>The only real downfall I see, is that since I am only self-taught, there are gaps in my knowledge. I only took the time to learn stuff that I needed for whatever I was working on, and never went completely from A to Z, if that makes any sense. Again, I think if I prepared specifically for the AP Test, I could close up most of these gaps. </p>
<p>You’ve been programming(actively, I’d assume) since 6th grade. Don’t worry about taking the AP class but be sure to pay close attention to all the material you will be tested on.</p>
<p>For test-taking purposes, I knew a lot of high school friends that were cramming for AP exams and received 5s on them. A few weeks later I’d ask them how they did it, and it’s usually the one practice test, an actual, older AP exam, and a lot of coffee and sleepless nights. </p>
<p>When wanting to self-study for AP Computer Science A though, I’d recommend not just watching a lot of tutorials on Java programming on YouTube, but also see if there is a trend of questions on older AP exams. Also make sure you go along with the curriculum of the course.</p>
<p>Considering your thoughts on how you’d do on the exam, I wouldn’t worry about it, but only brush up on the sections you could possibly not understand or have trouble with when it comes to the course curriculum.</p>
<p>I’ve started programming from a very young age, too. I also self-studied AP Comp Sci this year (for maybe 3 months or so), and found that nothing was advanced in that course — I’m not saying it’s super easy, but as long as you can program, you’re good to go. Nothing rocket science.</p>
<p>I was actually aiming for a 5, but I ended up with a 4 (to be honest, because I had underestimated the difficulty of the test, I barely finished the multiple-choice section… Ugh).</p>
<p>Anyway. I recommend buying yourself a prep book — I used Barron’s, and I think (not sure) that is the only test prep book available for AP Comp Sci. It’s good, but I believe its practice tests are harder than the real thing.</p>
<p>In conclusion, use some prep materials, and I’m very sure that you’re good to go.</p>